This invention relates to ovens and more particularly to ovens for performing industrial functions such as drying paint and other coatings, curing laminates, and so forth.
Historically, industrial ovens have been built on site from oven panels which are a sandwich of sheet metal skins with insulation fill. These panels are typically joined together using an overlapping tongue and groove construction and the oven corner areas are sealed on an ad hoc basis using various clamping and gasketing methods.
This construction, while satisfactory in many operations, suffers from several disadvantages. Specifically, the construction method is labor-intensive since virtually all of the construction is performed on the site. Further, the resulting construction often suffers from relatively high heat loss due to leakage at seams. Further, this construction provides a structure which is difficult to clean because of the many irregularities in the interior surfaces, and further, because it allows cleaning water to seep into the insulation between the outer skins through the seams between the tongue and groove panels with consequent moisture problems, and derogation of the heat insulating capacity of the oven.